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Leviathan
Category:VehiclesCategory:Species Physiology Leviathans are regarded as truly wonderful and wonderous creatures, being that they are biomechanoid ships that can move freely among the stars. They share much of the same attributes as artifically constructed starships, including internal atmospheres, command centers, living quarters, work shops, and hangar decks. Zhaan once described Moya, the main Leviathan in Farscape, as "a bio-mechanoid; a living ship". Indeed, Leviathans are bio-mechanical and a life-form of their own. A Leviathan is basically a space-ship with a personality. They have their own thoughts, feelings, emotions and so on, which are often relayed through the Pilot if one is present. Leviathans do most of their communications through non-verbal means, and theability to do this extends to their Pilots as well (see Episode 2.14 - Beware of Dog) though the Builder Kahaynu has once given Moya the ability to speak verbally to her passengers (see Episode 2.12 - Look At The Princess - I Do, I Think and Episode 2.13 - Look At The Princess - The Maltese Crichton). Leviathans are mainly seen as a spaceship, though it is clear they have their own personality and even culture, even their own Gods, known as The Builders (see Episode 2.10 to 2.12 - the Look At The Princess trilogy). The Builders, or at least the one known as Kahaynu , appear to be a humanoid people of God-like stature, composed of smoke (see Episodes 2.11 & 2.12 - Look At The Princess 2 and 3). Kahaynu did not state that it was The Builders who created Leviathans, since anyone can create a machine, and even imbue it with intelligence. He did mention that it was The Builders who gave Leviathans their soul, though. Leviathans were made to be ambassadors of peace (again, see Episodes 2.11 & 2.12 - Look At The Princess 2 & 3) and frown upon their exploitation by the Peacekeepers and their Gunship plans (indeed, Moya was nearly decommissioned until Zhaan proved herself responsible enough not to exploit Moya's ability to reproduce Gunships - again, Look At The Princess trilogy). The bio-mechanical part of Leviathans seems to constitute DRDs, which are small service robots. These can be controlled remotely by either the Pilot or the Leviathan itself. Another is of course in the various life-support mechanisms the Leviathan can produce for creatures inside it, such as air and light, and also compatability with defense screens and being able to interface with other systems, such as food freezing systems. However, some systems can be fitted without the Leviathan's jurisdiction, such as prison cell doors which have controls in the command chamber, but are out of reach of the Leviathan's control. Leviathans are incredibly large creatures. A fully matured Leviathan can grow many times the size of an infant. The average Leviathan lives for three hundred cycles. (Episodes 2.10-12 - Look at the Princess trilogy.) Inside the Leviathan it is not all blood and vital organs. In fact these seem to be tidied away quite nicely. There are several chambers and corridors which DRDs move around, and which can be made habitable for other organisms. There are also various shafts which may serve as quick and direct access for DRDs and for the flow of air and various bodily fluids, as well as chambers made purely for filtering air. I am unsure if Leviathans are supposed to be like this or made like this by the Peacekeepers who enslave them. However, Leviathans do seem to have a chamber built into them which even Pilots cannot sense or eavesdrop into - that being a Starburst chamber. This chamber is different from all the others - it seems to be full of lights, probably created by electrical impulses, and is where the energy required to create Starburst first coalesces (Episode 3.9 - Losing Time.) In keeping in with the biological part of Leviathans, it would also seem the creatures can develop some form of hayfever (see Episode 2.07 - Home On The Remains). Pollen inside the Leviathan can weaken the hull and impede navigation, possibly due to allergies or pollen merely creating blockages. Leviathans have no weapons for inter-stellar warfare, and as such are mainly used by Peacekeepers as transport vehicles. However, inside, the DRDs are vigilant and ready to destroy intruders, should the need occur. Indeed, the crew of Moya have found themselves under attack from the DRDs at one point (see Episode 1.10 - They've Got A Secret). Pregnant Leviathans have been known to kill intruders who have tried to board them, and as such they have developed a reputation. The DRDs can also act as the Leviathan's, and indeed the Pilot's, eyes inside the ship. Leviathans permanently stay in space where they are free. They are not supposed to come down onto the surface of planets, where the gravity and their own weight make it very hard to escape (see Episode 1.02 - I, E.T.). A game concocted by young Leviathans, though, involves Leviathans diving towards a planet and seeing how far they can go before they have to pull out. Leviathans also utilize a feature called "Starburst". This is a defensive maneuver that comes naturally to them, and is a method of extremely fast travel where the Leviathan rides an energy stream until they are pushed out at random (see Episode 1.17 - Through The Looking Glass.) However, this takes a lot of energy which the Leviathan must replenish. Moya has also been known to perform a reverse Starburst, going backwards instead of forwards (see Episode 2.16 - The Locket). This kind of maneuver, though is very risky and can cause death to the Leviathan. Also, it seems that Starbursts can completely invalidate all navigational data. It seems speculative to say that a Leviathan needs to know exactly where it is going, with either it or the Pilot calculating the necessary Starburst angle and force, else it would arrive and not know where it is. Peacekeepers have various ways for enslaving Leviathans, but the most common is the control collar. A huge device is fitted on the Leviathan itself which controls its propulsion, guidance and so on, and resulting in death to the Leviathan if it should attempt Starburst. In such cases Pilots are usually used as well to keep the Leviathans internal systems working and operating the DRDs, basically acting as a janitor whilst the Peacekeepers control the ship through the control collar (see Episode 1.01 - Premiere). A device inside the Leviathan, known as the Paddac Beacon, emits a signal and if a regular signal is not heard from the control collar, implying it has been removed. This signal informs any Peacekeepers nearby (see Episode 1.02 - I, E.T.). With Leviathans being used primarily as cargo ships, there are six items that they may not carry, more commonly referred to as "The Six Forbidden Cargoes". One such one is Novatrin Gas, which apparently is able to dissolve flesh from living creatures (see Episode 2.17 - The Ugly Truth). Another is Chlorium, which can numb Leviathans (see Episode 1.02 - I, E.T.). It is not yet known how the natural bonding can occur between a Leviathan and Pilot. There are many theories though, one being that the Leviathan can land on the home world of the Pilots and allow bonding that way, though they would be under the influence of the gravity. Another is that another race may act as an intermediary. In some cases this is the Peacekeepers, but a possibility could be the Relgarians, who hold a long and trustworthy pact with Leviathans and Pilots alike. Transport Pods These small, unarmed, crafts are the standard issue Leviathan cargo and personnel transports. They are capable of atmospheric flight, and fast enough to allow interplanetary travel. Leviathan transport pods are bioships. A Leviathan can grow new transport pods as needed, and as such they are somewhat expendable. Unlike the Leviathans themselves the transport pods are not sapient, or even intelligent enough to fly on their own. They require at least one crewmember to pilot them. If a transport pod is kept away from its Leviathan host for an extended period of time, it will go inactive and become unusable. Leviathan Reproduction Very little is known about Leviathan reproduction or mating rituals. Leviathans females can become pregnant, gestate a fetus, and give birth. The pregnancy is usually a long and complicated process. The child is conceived via a biological process and the embryo nests in one of the innermost chambers (usually on utility tiers which are inaccessible to the passengers). The embryo is tended to and defended by DRDs. This is an instinctive behavior that can override the usual DRD control channels. The DRDs may attack crew members who get too close to the developing child if they are perceived as a threat. Side effects of pregnancy include involuntary starbursts, malfunctioning of life support and various other internal systems, as well as erratic DRD behavior. Crews of pregnant leviathans should be prepared for many discomforts and are usually well-advised to abandon the ship for the remainder of her pregnancy. Peacekeepers have a Leviathan breeding research program attempting to produce a hybrid Leviathan warship that can take orders directly from a Sebacean captain (rather than interact with the crew via a bonded pilot). They successfully artificially impregnated a Leviathan called Moya, who gave birth to the first (and only) hybrid Leviathan ship Talyn. All other breeding attempts resulted in the death of the mother and the child, attributed to the fact that all other attempts were with enslaved leviathans wearing control collars. Talyn had a very powerful external retractable gun turret and wall-mounted security guns on the inside, and didn't need a Pilot to control him; however Talyn's architecture still offered a vestigial pilot's den. He could bond with a Sebacean pilot via a special neural implant at the top of the spine. Talyn chose to bond with rogue Peacekeeper captain Bialar Crais; however — using the Pilot's den — Talyn was able to temporarily, yet successfully, bond with Stark while Crais was incapacitated. Age Leviathans normally live over 300 cycles. When old age approaches, they try to travel to their sacred burial grounds to rest among the remains of other members of their species. Bonded pilots die along with their host, though their natural lifespan is over 3 times longer than that of a Leviathan. Although it is theoretically possible to "transplant" a pilot to another ship, most Pilots do not even consider it as an option. In fact, the Pilot society forbids young individuals to bond with Leviathans until they reach a certain age (Moya's Pilot was an exception). The sacred Leviathan burial ground is in a remote area of the uncharted territories, and the exact location is a secret. Enemies Leviathans have many predators, from Peacekeepers who try to enslave them, to the Grudeks, who harvest their Toubray (neural) tissue. The Patriqu-ro -a race of ship builders that compete with the Builders - also rank among the enemies of Leviathans. In the episode Meltdown, they had employed the services of an alien, Mu-Quillis, who created a Siren Star to bait and, ultimately, destroy Leviathans. Notable Leviathans *Moya *Talyn *Elack